Broken and Beautiful
by justanoutlaw
Summary: After breaking the curse at 14, Emma finds herself in the Enchanted Forest with David. She's still unsure how to feel about her parents after finding out they put her through a wardrobe, but seeing the place where she was meant to grow up may change all that.


This was a prompt submitted to me on Tumblr from a "overprotective sentence starter" post I reblogged:

"As long as I'm here, you'll be safe."

They requested Daddy Charming and teenage Emma, so this is set an alternate universe. In this, Emma broke the curse at 14 after living with Snowing as their foster daughter for a year. Just as in canon, the hat sucked Emma into the Enchanted Forest. But, instead of Snow going with her, it was David. Includes dialogue from season 2. I just want to say: Lady of the Lake is my favorite OUAT episode and I love the Mama Snow moments in it. This isn't meant to be a fix-it by any means, it's just a what-if.

* * *

" _Cause you are broken and beautiful  
And you're so damn cynical  
But I'm drawn in by the darkness in your eyes  
And its beautiful  
Broken and beautiful"-Kate Alexa_

Emma hit the ground with a thud. Well, that was as about as graceful as she ever was.

"Emma!" David's voice rang through her ears. "Emma, are you alright, honey?" He helped her up, brushing off her pants.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." She pulled away from him, ducking her head. She had a bunch of emotions running through her.

The past year had been pretty insane. She had been put with Mary Margaret and David Nolan. They had been the best foster parents she had since her first home sent her back. Then she got talking to the mayor's son, Henry. He showed her this book filled with fairytales and tried to convince her they were real. He said his mom was the "Evil Queen" and the lawyer/pawn shop owner that had placed her with the Nolans was "Rumpelstiltskin". On top of that, he was convinced that the Nolans were "Snow White" and her prince. He said they were her real parents, that they had sent her through the wardrobe to keep her safe, so one day she could break the curse. He kept saying she was the savior, their only hope.

A part of Emma wanted to believe it. She wanted to believe that her parents had been trying to keep her safe. She wanted to believe that her kind foster parents had brought her into this world. But she wasn't a little girl anymore, fairytales didn't exist. She told Henry to leave her alone so he wouldn't screw anything up with the latest family.

Then Regina, Henry's mother, gave her an apple turnover. She said it was to congratulate her on Mary Margaret and David wanting to adopt her. However, before she could eat it, David did and he slipped into a coma. Emma put her hands on the storybook that Henry dropped by and was hit with several visons.

Mary Margaret and David holding her as a baby, David rushing to the nursery and telling her to find them again one day.

It was real. All of it.

True love's kiss hadn't just woken her father, but the entire town. The curse was broken and yet, in Storybrooke they remained. Emma realized that her powers were true and while trying to help Regina from allowing the town to be destroyed by a dark force, a portal was opened. They did get rid of the darkness, but Emma had fallen through as well.

Now they were somewhere Emma had never seen before. Woods surrounded them, but it wasn't the one in Storybrooke.

"Where are we?" Emma asked.

"The Enchanted Forest," David breathed, almost in shock.

"You mean where you're from?"

He nodded. "You too."

Emma looked around. "Where's Mary Margaret?"

"Snow," David corrected. "Mary Margaret was her cursed name.

That was going to take some getting used to. "Right where is she?"

"When you got sucked into the portal, I said I wasn't going to lose you again and she shouted me either. We both jumped for it, but I must've been the only one to make it through."

"Well…what do we do now? We can't stay here."

There was silence for a minute. Emma leaned against the tree, trying to process the thoughts in her head. Her mind floated back to when they were first trying to find Regina after the curse broke. She hadn't said much to Mary Margaret-or Snow, since then. They had confronted her after making sure everyone was off safely.

" _We need to talk," Snow told her._

 _Emma shifted uncomfortably. She knew it was coming ever since the rainbow waves took over them. " I…well, I don't…I just…I don't want to talk."_

" _Well, I do, okay. Regina can wait. I can't. I mean, you're my daughter, and…I want to talk to you. I know that we have talked. But, we didn't know that we were talking."_

" _We talked about a lot of stuff," Emma fibbed. That wasn't true. She hadn't wanted to open up to Snow a lot, she thought it may ruin her chances of getting to stay._

" _Not really. The point is, we did not know that we were mother and daughter and, now, we do. And, so… Please, let's talk."_

 _Emma sighed. They weren't going to be able to go anywhere until they did, she guessed. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"_

" _We're together – finally. And I can't help but think you're not happy about it."_

" _Oh, I am. But, see… Here's the thing – no matter what the circumstances, for 14 years I only knew one thing: that my parents sent me away."_

 _David bit his lip. "We did that to give you your best chance."_

" _You did it for everyone, because that's who you are. Leaders, heroes, princes, and princesses, and that's great. A-And amazing. And wonderful. But it doesn't change the fact that, for my entire life, I've been alone."_

 _Snow's lip quivered, this wasn't how she saw this going. "But, if we hadn't sent you away, you would've been cursed, too."_

" _But we would've been together. Which curse is worse?"_

" _Emma…" David stepped forward, going to put a hand on her arm, but she pulled away._

" _I saw what happened in my vision. You put me in the wardrobe. You can't change that, nothing can. You…you gave me up. I'm sorry, I know we got close during the curse. I thought I wanted you two to be my parents. I just don't know now." She let out a deep breath. "Let's just go find Regina before this thing kills her. I promised Henry that I'd keep his mother safe."_

 _Emma headed off before she could see either of her parents' pained faces._

"I think I know how we can back," David pulled her out of her thoughts.

Emma looked up at him. "How?"

"The…the wardrobe," David's voice was low. "But it only takes one."

Emma's mind flashed to August. Like Henry, he had believed in the curse. He had been Pinocchio. "No, it doesn't."

"That's what Blue told us."

Emma shook her head. "August…Pinocchio, whoever he is. Before the curse broke, he showed me his story. His father and Blue lied to you so he could have a spot in it. The wardrobe takes two."

David felt his blood boil. They had been lied to? How could Blue do that to them? Geppetto, he could almost understand, he was a father. Maybe David would've made the same choices in his shoes. Even so, Blue was different. She was supposed to help them. If it weren't for her, Snow could've gone through with Emma. She didn't have to be alone her entire life. David had seen her file, it hadn't been pretty. His fist clenched and his eyes shut.

 _Calm down_ , he told himself. He couldn't flip out, not in front of Emma. Blue would be handled. For now, they just had to find the castle.

His eyes opened and he looked over at a confused Emma. "We have to get to the palace?"

"What?"

"Want to see where you're from? Let's go."

* * *

The trek was a long one and filled with pit stops when they ran into other people. As it turned out, the curse hadn't swept up everyone. There was a warrior by the name of Mulan and her friend, Aurora. Even an old knight that David had known, Lancelot, was there. He had offered them safe passage to the palace.

Emma stood in front of it, staring in amazement. All she had ever seen of castles were the ones in storybooks or the rare picture of the one in England. This was far grander, complete with a drawbridge.

All of Emma's foster homes plus all of the other houses in the respective cities could've filled the area.

"A bit overwhelming, eh?" David asked with a small smile. "I remember the first time I saw one."

Emma blinked and then remembered his story. He had been born on a farm, forced to take his long-lost twin brother's place. "I guess," she mumbled.

"Do you remember where the wardrobe is?" Lancelot asked.

"I could never forget," David whispered.

Together they walked through the palace. Emma felt as if she was going to faint. Regina's knights had done a great job of destroying it during their raid, but it was still quite grand. The entire scene almost reminded her of the movie Anastasia, after they had been ambushed. A beautiful place, just a little bit broken.

There were grand staircases that lead up to the rooms where the royals once slept. David would know the door to Emma's old nursery anywhere. He had spent many a day in there during Snow's pregnancy. While they had workers to set up the furniture and paint, he supervised and made lists of what else they would need. The room was directly across the hall from his and Snow's, so that they would for sure hear her throughout the night.

He pushed open the heavy wooden doors and looked around. He could just barely remember slipping Emma through the wardrobe. Once he saw that she had reached safety, he allowed himself to succumb to his wounds. From Henry's book, he knew this was the room where the curse had overtaken he and Snow.

He was almost glad that his wife wasn't with them. She shouldn't have seen the nursery in such a state. She should remember it the way it was, the way it was supposed to be.

Emma looked around the dark room. A crib was turned upside down, stuffed animals littered everywhere. Up against the wall was a big wardrobe, she recognized it from the book. She didn't step towards it at first, instead she crossed the room to the large window that overlooked the kingdom.

"I lived here?" She asked.

"You never even got to spend the night," David admitted. "You were born just as the curse was hitting the kingdom."

Emma nodded and Lancelot could tell that they needed their privacy, so he offered to step outside and leave the two be. David merely nodded, adjusting the sword the knight had leant him in his belt. He watched as Emma looked around the room.

"This was all we wanted for you," he told her. "I…I pictured coming in here, rocking you to sleep. I'd read bedtime stories to you, have you rope me into tea parties." He chuckled a little at the thought. "Your mother would help you dress for your first ball. Knowing you now, you'd probably pitch a fit at having to wear a dress."

Emma smiled a bit as she bent down, picking a teddy bear off the floor. She looked down into its button eyes. "Probably."

"I'm sorry you never got to have this, Emma. I wish…I wish you did. This is everything I ever wanted for you."

Emma bit her lip. "I guess it wasn't meant to be."

David didn't know what to say to that. Emma sighed, cuddling the bear close to her chest. For a minute, he could see the little girl in her. She was only 14, half the age Rumpelstiltskin said she would be when the curse hit. But even missing one minute of his daughter's life had been far too many.

"I was angry for so long... wondering how you could _choose_ to let me grow up without you," Emma admitted. David bit his lip, once again not knowing what he could say to fix it. 'How you could just put me through the wardrobe like I was a stray puppy or something. But then just seeing all this..." She gestured around to the destroyed nursery. "You gave up everything for me and you're still doing that."

Tears fell down her cheeks. David stepped forward, wiping them all away. Emma looked up at them, smiling through her tears.

"You're safe, Emma," David whispered, looking down into her big green eyes with all the love in the world. "As long as I'm here, you'll be safe."

Emma nodded, biting her lip. "I guess I'm just not very good at this…I'm not used to someone putting me first."

David felt his heart break a little at that. At the same time, he knew that he could change that, they both could, him and Snow. His little girl wouldn't be alone anymore. She had a family, they had a family.

"Well, you better get used to it," David said.

He pulled her into a hug and Emma couldn't help but notice that he was cradling the back of her head again. It was nice. She let herself melt into the hug, all of the tears falling down her face. Eventually, he felt brave enough to kiss her cheek.

"Come on, let's find a way to get home to your mother."

Mother. Emma had a mother and a father.

It was going to take some getting used to, but she would.

* * *

As always, prompts are accepted on my Tumblr accounts: just-an-outlaw and justanoutlawfanfiction!


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